Creeper

Origin

The Creeper was created by accident by Notch , creator of Minecraft . Meaning to create the first ever passive mob, the pig , the code went wrong. Instead of a pig he got a tall, slim being with the face and torso the shape of a player. With no arms and 4 stubby legs, this creature became known as the Creeper , a mob that when provoked or within distance of player blows up. It has earned Minecraft billions in marketing, and is the most recognizable Minecraft mob and character, including Steve .

Behavior

A Creeper who has found a player will chase down that player until the distance between them is only a few blocks. It should be noted that Creepers tend to walk to the right of a player. The Creeper makes use of a suicide-bomb attack involving getting within close proximity of the player (usually 2-3 blocks) before exploding. The player's only warning to when they are about to explode is a very distinctive hiss and the swelling and flashing of the Creeper itself, which starts about 1–2 seconds prior to the explosion. It takes three full seconds to detonate. After it explodes, it leaves a large crater in the ground. The size of this crater is solely dependent on what the terrain is made from. Typically a hole in the topsoil is created, however, they can be powerful enough to destroy Stone . When killed by an arrow shot by a Skeleton , it will drop random Music Discs , which can be played in a Jukebox . It doesn't matter who dealt most of the damage, as long as the last blow was the arrow of a Skeleton. This mob can not use doors but can climb ladders, unlike other hostile mobs. If you try moving away when it is hissing, it will cancel it, although this action may not cancel it in Hard Mode.

Charged Creepers

If struck with lightning , a Creeper will become a charged creeper. Charged Creepers are stronger and have a larger blast radius than normal creepers. They also have an electric aura around them.

Strategy

Creepers can be somewhat formidable foes when encountered, as their stealth gives them the upper hand. Creepers are slow however, and will also reverse their detonation time if the player leaves their range; this can be used to the player's advantage in melee combat. The player can simply use their Sword and quickly back away before detonation, getting at least two hits in before having to retreat. If this process is repeated, a Creeper can easily be defeated.

The most effective way to eliminate a Creeper is to simply use a bow , as ranged combat will surmount the creeper's slow speed. Although with a regular bow the player would need at least three arrows, this can be minimized with enchantments. Another effective way is to light the ground on fire with a Flint and Steel and lead the Creeper up to it.

Tips

Whenever possible, try to minimize contact with Creepers until you have a ranged weapon such as a bow to fight them with. If you only have a sword and a Creeper does attack you, move backwards, going either left or right while slashing to maximize the distance between the creeper. If you have a sword enchanted with Knockback, the sword will knock the Creeper several blocks backward depending on the level of enchantment, thus retreating and attacking again will no longer be needed (This can also be done by sprint-hitting the Creeper). It is possible to prevent a Creeper from exploding, by moving away from the Creeper fast enough. The range of a Creeper is determined by your difficulty mode.

It should be noted that Creepers do spawn unexpectedly and prowl silently, so it is not recommended to go out at night without protection. Look for an area where Creepers cannot reach you before quitting to ensure one doesn't sneak up on you when you return.

Fighting creepers in water also gives you an advantage, since you can swim faster than the Creeper and easily knock it out of detonation range. You can have a similar advantage if you get the higher ground while fighting on land.

Trivia

If a mob is killed by a Charged Creeper, the mob will drop its head.

If killed by an arrow of a Skeleton, it will drop a Music Disc instead of gunpowder. However, if it is not killed by the Skeleton's arrow, the Creeper may attack the skeleton instead of the player. The music dropped is random.

Like Spiders and Endermen , the Creeper can survive sunlight, but unlike Spiders, Creepers stay hostile even during the day.

A Creeper's explosion is less powerful than TNT , unless the Creeper is charged, which makes it far more powerful.

The Creeper gets its name because it creeps up behind people, to then explode.

Iron Golems don't attack Creepers (in versions 1.7.10 and earlier) because of the explosion damaging the village, but if a Creeper got in an Iron Golem's way, the Iron Golem could attack the Creeper, making it blow up. In 1.8, however, Iron Golems will attack creepers anyway.

Creepers will try to jump on top of the player if they are above them. They explode when they land on top of the player.

Creepers are scared of ocelots and cats , and when a Creeper spots one, it will deliberately flee from wherever the ocelot or cat is, ignoring the player completely,so it is highly recommended that if exploring at night you take a tamed ocelot with you.

When people asked what the texture of a creeper would be like, Notch said:"crunchy, like dry leaves". This leads to the assumption that they are part plant. This is actually viable because in the plant world there is a plant called Peat Moss which grows spores that explode violently. This might also explain how creepers spawn from nothingness, since that's what mosses seem to do.

If a creeper explodes in water, no damage will be done to the surrounding blocks. But damage can still be done to The Player and other mobs if they are close enough. If a creeper stands on a slab, only that slab would explode.

A creeper used to explode when attacked in Creative Mode, back in Minecraft 1.2.5.

There is a glitch where sometimes the creeper will suddenly stop chasing the player, and start walking around in circles, oblivious to the player. The only way of getting the creeper to stop "spinning", is to hit it.

As of version 1.6 you can "ignite" a creeper with flint and steel .

Wolves will not attack Creepers. Instead, they will flee until the Creeper has been dealt with.

On some shirts in the Jinx store featuring Creepers, a block of TNT is shown inside the head or torso of the Creeper. It is unknown if this is actually how Creepers work, but would explain why they drop gunpowder.

A boat with a sail made of green and black wool blocks , arranged to look like the face of a Creeper, can be found in the PS3 , Xbox 360 and PS4 tutorial worlds.

There was an old cartoon-like sound when the Creeper exploded.

If you right-click on a Creeper in Spectator Mode it will provide you with the Creeper Vision. Everything in the Creeper vision is green.

The aura surrounding the Charged Creeper will still be visible even if the Creeper has an Invisibility potion efect.

In the Minecraft 1.8 snapshots, mobs used to run away from Creepers when they were about to explode. This was removed in the final release of Minecraft 1.8 Update propably because the feature had bugs.

Gallery

See here

Video

A slow motion video of a Creeper exploding

Mod Minecraft with Tynker!

Get your own private Minecraft server!

Play minigames with friends!

Create skins, items, blocks, and mobs!

Remix mods and share with the community!

×

About

Tynker is the #1 Kids Coding Platform, where millions learn to code. Tynker offers self-paced online courses for children to learn coding at home, as well as specially designed curriculum for schools and camps.